I am an old soul. Plain and simple. There is something about the 20th century, specifically, that captivates and allures me by its simplistic charm. Flipping through old family photos and musty sepia prints is something I could get lost in for hours on end. The styles of my great grandmother’s generation is so fascinating to me. The beauty of 20th century cinema – especially the 1940s, 50s, and 60s – make me feel nostalgic for an era long gone. This is why 1924 Us is at the top of my Instagram preferences. I devoured biographies of Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, and my favorite old Hollywood muse, Audrey Hepburn, all throughout my teenage years. Her class and peculiar nature even inspired me to cut off all my hair at age seventeen, and the richness of her characters made my heart yearn to jump back into a world before technicolor and CGI and all the complex, advanced, almost overkill in technological advances…
A world in black & white
When I first picked up a camera, I was serenaded by fine art photoshop junkies, Lightroom’s incredible development panel, and camera gear designed to bring forth color like never before. And yet, my favorite images remained those in black & white. Something about it causes you to take a step back and focus solely on the story and what the image is saying. Color can bring beauty in its own unique form, but black and white has this magical way of exposing the soul. If you know me, you know I am a feeler and my work is described as “dramatic” – or as I like to call it – “moody”.
Black and white, to me, totally encompasses the mood. It tells a story. It has this way of tugging at the heart to know more about something or someone. It’s a bit like a silent film in that it is so simple, yet says so much. If I could literally spend the rest of my time behind the camera in 1) Documenting people just as they are 2) Editing 99.999% of my work in black & white…I would be a happy camper. And yes – it does in fact nearly kill me inside when someone says, “Could I have the color version of this too?” 😉
Though we live in an incredible world of vibrancy and the Creator’s literal palette, enjoy some of my absolute favorite photos in my tenth year of photography…
enjoy a world in black & white.
2 Comments
Renee Leonard Keenedy
I so agree. We are so used to technicolor that black and white photography makes us our minds pause on the sheer elegance of a bride in a hayloft, or an older gentleman’s hand around his wife of more than fifty years.
Bravo!
Elizabeth Shinault-Tucker
Again, your eye of the world astounds, amazes me, leaves me breathless. From the older couple to the newly weds to beginning of life,you have touched my soul.